The old Tradition Book: Euthanatos bored the tears out of me. Despite presenting the Euthanatos as a spooky death cult, the book did little to make them very sympathetic, or, atop that, dangerous, silly if one is going for a spooky death cult vibe.
The new Tradition Book: Euthanatos left me silent and stunned for several long hours. Despite being fairly dissapointed with the last two Tradition Books (Cultists of Ecstasy and Dreamspeakers), I picked up Euthanatos because it had come highly recommended to me. I agree with those who recommended it, it's a fantastic book.
The fiction, penned by the author of the Akashic Brotherhood's revised Tradition Book and co-author of the Celestial Chorus book, is what would happen if Quentin Tarantino had a religious experience. As a big fan of "true crime" films, novels, and other sorts of media, the writing had me immediatly. It features the two signature characters (presumably) from the pictures of the Traditions in the main revised Mage book; Evelyn Kinsella and Truce Singh, both of whom are clearly harsh, tough, and don't take much shit.
The prolouge, "Walking on knives" begins with a murder, not a "good death" but a murder. A man begs for his life, his wife, fresh from bandaging up the children wounded in his child pornography endeavor comes across the two main characters of the book in the middle of administering their killing. She is salvagable, he is not. You can imagine the outcome, the Euthanatos are killers, not social workers.
Introduction, "Drinking from the skull cup" These chapters have, by far, come to be my favorite parts of the new Tradition Book series, establishing a powerful theme and mood for each Tradition, helping to define them further than a "philosophical club." This chapter not only sets up powerful themes, but also addresses the varieties of cultures and practices within the Euthanatos briefly, as well as a very sanskrit oriented lexicon.
Chapter 1. "History is a tightening noose" focuses on Truce, Evelyn, their victim's wife, named Janine, and the three children they rescue's flight north, into Vancouver to hand the children off to the sample Choirster cabal from the Celestial Choir Tradition Book. Of course, they get to talking about the Euthanatos and their origins, starting with a fairy tale told to a child, to a talk over coffee, to a near-death experience, and finally, the narration of a horror from Janine's own past. The history chapter is impressive and enthralling, covering the latest metaplot advancements in a patient, steady tone. The obligatory "other creatures" sidebar is in this chapter, if that sort of thing interests you, but overall, the chapter is well written, and suitable dreadful.
Chapter 2. "Ascension's Knife" The metaplot spills over into this chapter because of a messenger's presence. That messenger's words begin to make evident the strain between Truce and Evelyn, a strain over an idealogical dispute that I'll be making plenty of use of in my games. The rest of the chapter deals with the organization of the Euthanatos, initiation, apprenticeship, judgement and punishment, and chantry (Marabout, in the words of the Euthanatos) organization. It goes on to detail the various factions within the Euthanatos; The Chakravanti are the eldest of the organized sects within the Euthanatos, adhering loyally to their sanskrit origins, they stand as the traditionalists within the Tradition. The Madzimbabwe are a group of African ancestor venerators who are recently making a comeback from their Colonial setbacks (as an aside, I would actually like to applaud Malcolm Sheppard for making the Madzimbabwe *not* just a bunch of Hip-Hoppers, gangsters, and voudonistas that they were rushedly described as in the previous Tradition Book). The Hierochthonoi contains the Greek and Greek-influenced Euthanatos factions, the Aided the Isle folk Euthanatos, and finally, the Vrati, those who "represent the Thanatoic ideal in it's purest form." The Vrati work as the diplomats, soldiers, and scholars of the Euthanatos, although, under recent events, they may soon find their jurisdiction expanding. Also mentioned briefly are Norse, Etruscan, and Mayan sects of Magi who are loosely tied to the Euthanatos.
Another of my favorite features of the new Tradition Books follows, plunging into the Thanatoic paradigm which is accompanied by a sidebar about Jhor, the karmic scent of death that follows most Euthanatos, and a very tense, and to my mind, representative of the Tradition discussion about death versus mercy. Rotes follow, and all seem to check out mechanically, if you're into that kind of thing.
Chapter 3. "All flesh is ashes" presents Euthanatoi of note, notes on running all-Euthanatos chronicles (my personal favorite part of the book as of writing this) dealing with advice on the morality of the Euthanatos and the new metaplot component leading to interniecene conflict between the Euthanatos. This information is followed with a sample cabal, legends of the Euthanatos, and finally templates. I can't say I'm a huge fan of most of the templates as presented, but the psychopomp, censor, and the entrophobe are all pretty brilliant wholecloth, the rest...well, it may be the illustrations that put me off.
Okay, so, finally, I'm gonna rank this. For style, the book gets an 8.5, the Leif Jones art is acceptable, as are the Melissa Uran pieces, but Alex Shiekman just turns me cold, and that's probably part of the reason as to why I have trouble taking some of the templates seriously, seeing as he illustrated them. Still, it's just a personal issue, and I'm sure there are some folks who love Alex Shiekman's art, I'm just one of those who doesn't love him.
For substance, the book gets a 9.5. It passes the Chupp test with flying colors, is well written, and slams down a wonderful story along with being informative.
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